Our Teachers

Emily Halliwell: piano

Emily Halliwell began piano at the age of 3 and has been teaching piano since she was eighteen. She has love of games, composition and experimentation at the piano as well as grounding her approach with good technique and attentiveness to musicality and colour at the instrument

She completed her ARCT in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music with High Distinction and has won prizes and awards at Toronto music festivals. She has worked under Dianne Werner, Margaret Halliwell, and Andre LaPlante and is currently finishing her Doctorate at the University of Toronto.

Lilia Temirkanova: piano

With over 20 years of experience, I am a creative and passionate piano teacher who brings energy, depth, and inspiration to every lesson. I believe music should be both meaningful and joyful — whether a student is preparing for exams and performances or learning simply for the love of playing.

I help students develop strong technical foundations while nurturing musical understanding, imagination, and confidence at the instrument. I thoughtfully support those working toward structured goals, while also creating a relaxed and encouraging space for students who wish to explore music at their own pace.

By gently integrating music theory and history into lessons, and encouraging improvisation and composition, I guide each student toward discovering their own musical voice in a way that feels natural and inspiring.

Recently, I began singing in a choir and composed several original choral pieces for the ensemble. These works have just started being performed and are already being received with genuine enthusiasm by audiences — a new artistic chapter that continues to enrich and inspire my teaching.

Hillary Tufford: voice

I am a dedicated and passionate teacher with over 10 years of instructional experience. I earned both a MMus. and an BMus (Hons.) in Voice Performance at Western University, where I achieved the Western University Gold Medal in Music upon Graduation. Since my degrees, I have continuously dedicated myself to professional development, whether reading pedagogy and anatomy books, or studying with the musical minds of our day including: Dame Sarah Connolly, Shirley Close, John Norris, Catherine Robbin, Karen Slack, Thomas Diamond, Craig Rutenberg, and Joseph Middleton.

Alongside teaching I am a professional performer. My performance work is centered around classical music, but I also perform musical theatre, and popular music too. I’ve worked for a number of organisations, including Daegu Opera, Korea, Vancouver Opera, Victoria Philharmonic Choir, Tapestry Opera, Kingston Symphony Orchestra, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Elmer Isler Singers, and Soundstreams. My work as a performer deeply informs my teaching and helps me to pass along practical skills to my students, as I am able to relay lived experiences about the art and challenge of practice, auditions, and performance. Throughout my journey I've navigated performance anxiety, voice type shifts, transitioning from being a student, to a young artist, to a working professional, operating as an unrepresented professional and also signing and working with professional management, music competitions, and applying for arts grants.

I love working with all sorts of students - people with big dreams and goals, professionals seeking to up their game, and people who are simply curious about exploring their voice or learning a new musical instrument. I offer voice classes to beginner to professional students, specializing in pre-teen to adult voices, and I offer beginner to intermediate piano classes. Every student is unique, so I tailor my classes to the needs and learning style of the individual, so that my students can fully express themselves through music, voice, and sound!

Don MacDonald: guitar

Don is a classically trained guitarist with an ARCT in guitar performance. He is fluent in many musical styles and performs with orchestras, solo and duo classical concerts, musical theatre, rock and jazz.

Notably, he has worked at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival as a pit musician, session player and onstage as a musical actor. He also performs professionally on many instruments including: electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, ukulele, bass and banjo . In addition to his first album of original music for guitar, Don has recently completed a second album of works for solo guitar.